Huddersfield Giants v Catalans Dragons: Preview

Huddersfield host the Catalans Dragons at the John Smith’s Stadium on Wednesday night in the first of a jam-packed Easter period in the top flight. The Giants enter the game with three defeats and two draws in their last five; the most recent a 14-14 draw away at St Helens. The Dragons had lost four games in a row before a 37-26 win against the Leigh Centurions at the Leigh Sports Village last time out.

Giants’ head coach Rick Stone addressed the media and spoke about the Easter period: “It’s a hard one, we have got five games in under four weeks so it is a pretty hectic period.” He added: “Rest and recovery is an important part of it and to freshen up mentally as well as physically. I suppose we are a little bit lucky that we get to play Wednesday and Monday as oppose to Friday and Monday.”

Huddersfield have made two changes to their squad after the draw against St Helens with potential debutant Jake Mamo and Tom Symonds replacing the injured Dale Ferguson and Ukuma Ta’ai.

The Dragons enter the game after an impressive victory against Leigh and they can be happy with their efforts that helped them climb out of a pitiful run of form. With renewed confidence, the French outfit will fancy their chances of making it two away wins on the run against the Giants. Tony Gigot made his return last time out, scoring a try, and he will look to continue his impressive comeback tomorrow night.

Thomas Bosc returns to the side in place of Alrix Da Costa as the Dragons will aim to march on towards a top eight place.

Huddersfield squad: Mamo, McGillvary, Cudjoe, Gaskell, Murphy, Brough, Rapira, Hinchcliffe, Wakeman, Symonds, Leeming, Ikahihifo, Roberts, Clough, Mason, Dickinson, Wood, McIntosh, Mellor.

Catalans squad: Gigot, Inu, Wiliame, Walsh, Myler, Moa, Aiton, Casty, Anderson, Bousquet, Garcia, Bosc, Durport, Simon, Thornley, Albert, Seguier, Margalet, Belmas.

Referee: Robert Hicks

Touch-judges: J Smith and C Kendall